The overwhelming and continuing success of lieder composer Hugo Wolf makes it easy to forget that he also worked in different musical genres and was himself not at all satisfied with being recognised only as a master of the small form. After the fiasco during a rehearsal in Vienna of his symphonic poem Penthesilea in 1886, he tried again and again to gain a foothold in concert life by means of orchestrated versions of his songs – an aim, which he rarely achieved.

During his lifetime Wolf enjoyed his biggest successes with his works for choir and orchestra. However, it were precisely these works which were so completely forgotten in the 20th century that their new performance in a concert of the Hugo-Wolf-Festival in Stuttgart on 18 February 1996 (which is documented on this CD), amounted to a second premiere. The Württembergischer Kammerchor, the Chor der Staatlichen Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst Stuttgart and the Ensemble Stuttgart under the direction of Dieter Kurz recorded Wolf’s six works for choir and orchestra live.